(Photo: Scott Eells/Bloomberg)
Efforts to keep older people in apartments of their own may be saving many of them from the virus that causes COVID-19.
Analysts with the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC) have reported data supporting that finding, in a summary of results from a survey of 105 senior housing and care operators.
Some participants provide more than one type of long-term care (LTC) services. The sample includes 56 assisted living facility managers and 29 nursing home managers, along with providers of some other types of services.
Assisted living facility managers reported that they had tested 22% of the residents as of May 31, and that just 1.5% had confirmed positive, or suspected positive, COVID-19 tests.
The nursing home managers had tested 34% of their residents, and about 6.7% of the residents tested had confirmed or suspected positive tests.
Resources
- A collection of resources related to the House Ways and Means health subcommittee hearing, including a video recording of the hearing, is available here.
- An article about what a health policy specialist said about COVID-19 and nursing homes is available here.
NIC tried to standardize the data by having all participants report data snapshots for May 31.
Brian Jurutka, the NIC's president, said in a comments on the survey result that each type of facility serves different people and provides different types of care.
"Each must be considered separately to form and implement a sector-wide response," Jurutka said.
Analysts at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity have estimated that, as of June 19, about 43% of the people who have died from COVID-19 in the United States have been in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
